Impact of COVID-19 on hospital acquired infections

Thomas Halverson; Anessa Mikolajczak; Nallely Mora; Christina Silkaitis; Savanna Stout

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2022.02.030

Impact of COVID-19 on hospital acquired infections

Am J Infect Control. 2022 Jul;50(7):831-833. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2022.02.030. Epub 2022 Mar 6.

Authors

Thomas Halverson¹, Anessa Mikolajczak², Nallely Mora³, Christina Silkaitis⁴, Savanna Stout²

Affiliations

¹ Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, Department of Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Prevention, Geneva, IL. Electronic address: tommy.halverson@nm.org.
² Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, Department of Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Prevention, Winfield, IL.
³ Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health, Department of Public Health Sciences, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL.
⁴ Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, Department of Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Prevention, Chicago, IL.

Abstract

While there are established and effective guidelines for prevention of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on those implemented practices and policies have not been thoroughly investigated. This report examines the impact of COVID-19 on HAI rates at 2 hospitals within the same healthcare system. HAIs significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic which correlated with the use of overtime and agency nursing hours.

Keywords: CAUTI; CDI; CLABSI; MRSA; SARS-CoV2.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Catheter-Related Infections* / prevention & control
Cross Infection* / epidemiology
Cross Infection* / prevention & control
Hospitals
Humans
Pandemics / prevention & control